Can We Dialogue with Islam?
When Pope Benedict XVI commented on Islam in an address at the University of Regensburg in Germany on September 12, he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who said, "Show me what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The pope did not originally dissociate himself from the citation, and the media quoted it out of context. Then Muslims in various parts of the world responded violently, killing Christians and burning churches.
Yet not all responses from Muslims have been violent. A group of 38 Muslim scholars from around the world tried to bring the encounter back to the academy through an open letter to the pope. (Text available at IslamicaMagazine.com.) The Muslims who signed the open letter include grand muftis who are authorized to make legal decisions for Muslims in their countries. Other signers are professors at major universities in the Muslim world and the West who influence the rising generation of Muslims. The opportunity to engage with them is significant.
Notwithstanding the ugly headlines, attention to Benedict's speech and the events that led up to it can aid productive dialogue between Muslims and Christians. And the stakes could not be higher. Our religions together represent more than half of the world's population. Members of each community blame the other side for conflicts, both ancient and contemporary.
Dialogue, however, presents us with an opportunity to hear Muslim concerns and express our own—such as our desire for greater religious freedom. And dialogue can lead to results. When my wife and I led a church in Afghanistan, a Christian family was imprisoned for distributing Gospel portions. ...
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dale
It is good to read this and get various perspectives. But even more questions arise than are answered. Bernard Lewis, Princeton professor and Islamic expert whom even Muslims admire for his fairness toward their faith, says that it is difficult to extrapolate the political from the religious in Islam. There is not theology in Islam of 'church and state.' Both are one. That these Muslim scholars do separate them as noted above, causes me to question what is really going on. I am willing to engage in dialog, for sure. But I come from a tradition that says YHWH is not able to break his promises. Allah, on the other hand, is allowed to break his treaties and so are his followers. There is no easy answer. I hope the dialogs can continue with both faiths standing in their truest allegiance without tinkering their religion to fit modernity.
George M.
I do not think that dialogue with Muslims will do any good. For the Christian, the bridge to God is Christ; as a refresher, read Matthew 7:15, and of course John 14 so that we can generally understand what God's Formula is; Islam rejects this, so no dialogue of any kind will bridge the gap, and conflict ultimately results. Yes, common good and world peace should dictate tolerance between religions (and other values), but eventually, when there are only two powers standing face-to-face, one will always try to step over the other. Yes Islam is tolerant, but on its own terms until, once more, an opportunity will come to justify conquest by the sword. Peace always works when you have no opponent. However, as Islam rejects Jesus as the resurrected Saviour (and they obviously do not respect the words of Jesus in the New Testament) they will always find us to be an opponent. The depth of this subject unfortunately goes far beyond the scope of this commentary...
Sarah
If you want to understand Islam it is important to read the whole Koran. It is vastly different than the New Testament. Jihad in the koran is not described much as a struggle but it is described as bloodshed for the sake of either subduing or eliminating any opposition to Islam. Violence has indeed has been done by Christians even in the name of God and it is wrong, but you cannot find anything spoken by Jesus to justify the violence, nor did he ever do violence unless you call driving out the money changers at the temple violence. Virtually all Muslim Nations have horrible human rights violations and though Muslim's religious freedom is protected in Western nations, Christians in Muslim nations can be put in jail, even executed if they talk about Jesus to a Muslim (see www.persecution.com) Yes there are Muslims who are peaceful and not all follow the violent practices of Muhammed, but sadly plenty in the Koran encouraged Bin Laden type actions.